Date: Fri 20-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Hawleyville-zone

Full Text:

P&Z Rejects Bid For Hawleyville Industrial Zone

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has unanimously rejected a request to

rezone four acres along Barnabas Road in Hawleyville from residential to

industrial.

P&Z members June 13 turned down the request from Steve Nicolosi of Buzzano

Contracting to rezone the land on both sides of Barnabas Road near Hawleyville

Road. Mr Nicolosi holds about 2.5 acres on the north side of Barnabas Road and

1.5 acres on the south side.

The rezoning request drew fire at a public hearing earlier this month from

some nearby residents who questioned the wisdom of allowing industrial uses on

that land.

Mr Nicolosi wanted to change the zoning from Residential-1 to Industrial M-4

so he could submit a proposal to build a prefabricated building there for

various industrial uses.

Those uses would have included space for businesses in radon reduction;

plumbing; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

P&Z member Daniel Fogliano said the P&Z shouldn't rezone land in Hawleyville

before the completion of an ongoing planning study on Hawleyville's economic

development potential. The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials

(HVCEO) is sponsoring that study, which will suggest future businesses and

industries for the area and the transportation facilities that would be needed

to support those land uses.

Mr Fogliano said he doesn't believe that Industrial M-4 zoning is an

appropriate zoning designation for the four acres along Barnabas Road.

P&Z member Thomas Paisley said it wouldn't be appropriate for the P&Z to act

on the Nicolosi application before the economic planning study is complete.

It appears that the land proposed for industrial zoning should retain its

residential zoning, Mr Paisley said.

P&Z member James Boylan said that until all people living near the property

want the land to become industrially-zoned, it should keep its residential

zoning. Much other industrially-zoned land exists in town, he said.

P&Z member Heidi Winslow said it would be premature for the P&Z to act on a

rezoning request when the economic planning study hasn't been completed. P&Z

members must be careful not to "spot zone" areas, she said.

The Hawleyville section is one of the "gateways" into Newtown which makes a

first impression on travelers, she said, noting that the town's plan of

development recommends that such gateways be attractive places.

Differing Views

In presenting the zone change request to P&Z members at a June 5 public

hearing, attorney Robert Hall, representing Mr Nicolosi, provided the P&Z with

letters from nearby property owners Doreen and John Cash, and also from

Elizabeth and Donald Nichols, stating that they endorse Mr Nicolosi's zone

change request. The Cashes and the Nicholses requested that the P&Z also

rezone their residential properties to industrial property.

But attorney Hugh Lavery, representing Jeanette and William Ferry of 58

Barnabas Road, said the proposed zone change would have a major negative

effect on the Ferrys, such as reduced residential property values.

At the hearing, resident Jennifer Wolbach of 5 Old Hawleyville Road, vice

president of the North Newtown Homeowners Association, explained she has spent

much time and money improving her property. Mr Nicolosi bought the property in

April and now he wants a zone change for it, Ms Wolbach said, terming the

matter "unconscionable." Ms Wolbach objected to the look of pre-fabricated

industrial buildings, saying they are visually "horrible."

Lilla Dean, head of the homeowners association, had reminded P&Z members that

the association had proposed a Hawleyville zone change last year, but P&Z

members turned down that request, citing HVCEO's ongoing planning study of

Hawleyville's economic development potential.

Last January, P&Z members unanimously turned down the homeowner association's

zone change request. In that request, the association proposed rezoning from

R-2 Residential to P-1 Professional a 183-acre section of Hawleyville bounded

on the east by Hawleyville Road, on the west by Farrell Road, and on the south

by the Maybrook railroad tracks right-of-way. That zone change proposal had

drawn strong criticism from the owner of a large portion of the land who

didn't want it rezoned.

The association had sought that zone change to prevent the acreage from being

put to uses its members consider undesirable, such as multifamily housing.

In mid-1995, a section of Hawleyville was proposed for rezoning from

Residential R-1 to Industrial M-5 to allow a 100,000-square-foot exhibition

hall called the Connecticut Exposition and Performance Events Center (CEPEC)

to be built there. The P&Z rejected that zone change request after strong

public protests from Hawleyville residents.